MV ''Blue Puttees'' (ex-''Stena Trader'') is a Ro-Pax passenger/vehicle

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

operated by

Marine Atlantic Marine Atlantic Inc. (french: Marine Atlantique) is an independent Canadian federal Crown corporation which is mandated to operate ferry services between the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia. Marine Atlantic's corporate hea ...

between the islands of

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

and Cape Breton in eastern Canada. She is named after the nickname of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment. Largely built in Russia, her assembly was finished in Norway. As part of

Stena Line Stena Line is a Swedish shipping line company and one of the largest ferry operators in the world. It services Denmark, Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Sweden. Stena Line is a major unit of Ste ...

she regularly ran between The Netherlands and the United Kingdom from 2007 to 2009. After being leased by Marine Atlantic, she was taken to Bremerhaven, Germany to be converted so as to better suit the North Sydney to Channel-Port aux Basques route, which she would be taking over. This conversion included the addition of a third bow thruster, increase and renovation of the passenger areas, and shortening of the vessel by 12m to help facilitate docking at Channel-Port aux Basques. She entered regular passenger service with Marine Atlantic in early March 2011. Her nearly identical

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...

followed her into service a few weeks later. In May 2015, Marine Atlantic announced that it had purchased both vessels from Stena for Can$100 million each.

Incidents and accidents

On July 31, 2013, ''Blue Puttees'' ran aground after missing a turn in the harbour of Port aux Basques. The vessel managed to free herself at high tide. Following an underwater inspection, it was discovered that ''Blue Puttees'' had suffered damage to her bulbous bow, and would have to be taken out of service to allow repairs to take place at a

drydock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...

in Halifax. She was returned to service on August 20, 2013.

References

External links

MV ''Blue Puttees'' aground in Port aux Basques harbour
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blue Puttees 2005 ships Ferries of Newfoundland and Labrador Ferries of Nova Scotia Marine Atlantic Ships built at the Baltic Shipyard Ships built in Rissa, Norway